The Comic Latin Grammar A new and facetious introduction to the Latin tongue
unaccompanied by a corresponding quality of face. It has been said that the schoolmaster is abroad:—true; but he is walking arm and arm with the Merry-Andrew; and the members, presidents, and secretaries of mechanics’ institutions, and associations for the advancement of everything, follow in his train. Nothing can be taught that is not palatable, and nothing is now palatable but what is funny. That boys should be instructed in the Latin language will be denied by few (although by some eccentric persons this has been done); that they can be expected to learn what they cannot laugh at will, to all reflecting minds, especially on perusing the foregoing considerations, appear in the highest degree unreasonable. To conclude:—let all such as are disposed to stare at the title of our work, ponder attentively on what we have said above; let them, in the language of the farce, “put this and that together,” and they will at once perceive the beneficial effect, which holding up the Latin Grammar to ridicule is likely to produce in the minds of youth. So much for the satisfaction of our senior readers. And now, no longer to detain

    our juvenile friends, let us proceed to business, or pleasure, or both:—we will not stand upon ceremony with respect to terms.

    THE SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD.

     Of

    Latin there are three kinds: Latin Proper, or good Latin; Dog Latin; and Thieves’ Latin, Latin Proper, or good Latin, is the language which was spoken by the ancient Romans. Dog Latin is the Latin in which boys compose their first verses and themes, and which is occasionally employed at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but much more frequently at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow. It includes Medical Latin, and Law Latin; though these, to the unlearned, generally appear Greek. Mens tuus ego—mind your eye; Illic vadis cum oculo tuo ex—there you go with your eye out; Quomodo est mater tua?—how’s your mother? Fiat haustus ter die capiendus—let a draught be made, to be taken three times a day; Bona et catalla—goods and chattels—are examples.

    Thieves’ Latin, more commonly known by the name of slang, is much in use among a certain class of

     conveyancers

    , who disregard the distinctions of meum and tuum. Furthermore, it constitutes a great part of the familiar discourse of most young men in modern times, particularly lawyers’ clerks and medical students. It bears a very close affinity to Law Latin, with which, indeed, it is sometimes confounded. Examples:—to prig a 
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